This is a real heartbreaker, really wanted this to turn out differently. But I digress. We are putting our house on the market within the next couple weeks. Our house needs to be painted and given the fact that we have had rain every week for the past month or so every painter in town was on a month out on starting. Flowers Services responded promptly and gave us a price that seemed a bit too low. I understand that when you're trying to start a business you may give people discounts or in an attempt to get new business you may do work for a price lower than you have in the past. On Wednesday I asked them to look at my house before they gave me a quote. They did, and as suspected, the job was more involved than they had calculated. They gave me a new quote which was fine - no problems there. Now you have to understand that I open my door to a very young couple. However, I don't think this is a bad thing because everyone has to start somewhere. They arrived early which I thought was a god sign. They are trying to lay the groundwork for their family in the future by starting this business and both spouses were involved (Trista and Phillip) which I thought was great. I already had a lot of painting equipment so I told them we would provide the paint and most of the supplies i.e. whatever we have on hand. They tell me they want half upfront because they have been stiffed by other clients. I know that can sometimes happen so I told them I would give them a small portion of the money, but not half, so that they can get whatever remaining supplies are needed. We signed a contract and they begin work. About an hour into the painting the husband, Philip mentioned to me that it might be a good idea for them to get a paint sprayer which would help them move along and complete the project quicker. I did not give them money to purchase the paint sprayer. They leave around lunchtime (about 2 hrs), purchase the paint sprayer and come back and work for about another two hours until around 4:30 PM. At the end of the first day they told me they would show up with four people the next day. The idea was that they would finish painting the house on day two and we would settle up at the end of the day. It should be said here, that in other quotes I have received from painters in the area, that 2 to 3 days was the quoted time it would take to complete my project so I did not see a problem with them coming out with a larger crew and finishing the next day. They told me they would show up early the next day, instead, they showed up late, however they did have four people this time. After about 30 minutes Philip came to tell me that they had not cleaned the paint sprayer the night before and therefore it was clogged and they might need to buy a new one. I provided the mineral spirits to clean it and thought that was the end of it. They were unable to get the paint sprayer working and therefore would need to purchase another one. He asked me if I would pay for a new paint sprayer. I told him I would not. Rather than doing that at around 10:30 AM in the morning every single person on the crew left. I texted Trista to ask where everyone had gone and she told me that they went to get the paint sprayer and to get some lunch. I asked her why everyone had to leave to go get a paint sprayer and she told me they needed to get more money. After they had been gone for a little while, I texted Trista to ask her to talk to me when they got back so we could figure out what we were going to do next week as there was rain in the forecast. She asked me if something was wrong, I told her everything was fine and I waited for them to return. Huge shock, it is now Monday at 9:08 AM and they have not returned nor will they return any of my text messages or Facebook messages that I have sent since Thursday. A couple important things to mention: 1. Phillip worked his butt off both days he was here. His wife and two other crew members spent the time watching him or just making a mess. 2. All equipment including basics like paint brushes and trays were never cleaned and our garage and driveway were covered in paint and left a complete wreck. It took us 3 hours with a pressure washer to clean up. 3. All trim that was attempted (none was completed) was done sloppily and paint was smeared on the windows and screens. 4. No scraping or removal of old paint was really even attempted. I can only surmise that they thought they could just spray some paint on it and call it done. Once that plan failed they realized that this project would require hard work and so they abandoned it. Here's the kicker, we have a contract, I found both of them and all their information online easily. The only question now is what I plan to do next. read more